A Day in Ministry by Christy Mead

 

My wife, Christy, wrote this article. Enjoy!

I wrote this for a friend who is gathering information from minister's wives. She wanted to know the craziest day in the life of a minister's wife. This one topped my list, but there are so many others! Someday I'll write a book!

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A day in ministry...

My husband was called to pastor a church in Arkansas, 5 hours from where we had served in Texas. Trying to sell our home, home school our children, and connect with a new ministry proved to be too much for the distance. So we decided, after an unsuccessful search for a rent home, that we would take up residence in our new church's gym. It was acceptable...2 rooms, public baths with showers, a kitchenette, a large place for our kids to play, and best of all it was free!!! This is a day of my ministry during the 4 months we lived in the gym.

Depression had hit like a ton of bricks. Trying to rouse myself out of bed to fix breakfast and homeschool our girls took every ounce of energy. I felt so lonely and out of place in this new town and new ministry. Just this week, we had learned our youth minister and his wife were leaving to go to another ministry. Even though this was in the works long before we got to our new church, it was still a blow.
I went through the motions that morning. I made my bed, and that's when I noticed black specks under my pillow. Upon closer examination, I realized these were mouse droppings! Right under my pillow! Eeek! I stripped my bedding to take to the laundry mat.

I made breakfast...cereal again! Ugh! No oven or stove in this kitchenette, so only cereal every morning for breakfast...sigh. The girls began to fight. "Mom, she took my doll! Mom, she hit me! Mom, she called me a name!" Sigh... "I'm changing my name to Dad!" I yelled out to them. In unison, they all said, "Dad!"

After breakfast, I went to check on our dogs. Before moving, I had a thriving dog breeding business. After moving to the gym, we had two litters of puppies born and several died due to the stress of the move. We had 7 Golden Retrievers, 3 Dachshunds, & 8 puppies that I had to feed and care for. After an hour or so, I made my way back inside to start our school day.

The girls had finally got dressed and headed to our home school area. I had them sit down with their school work. "You have an hour to finish your English," I told them. After several minutes, I could see they were not working at all. "you have to do your school work." "I don't want to do this, it's boring," came the replies. "You have to or there will be consequences!" More time passed, I checked their work, & every answer was wrong! I felt the old familiar pressure of trying to teach my kids, but fearing they were falling further behind every day. How can I get through to them??? In my frustration I began to lecture the girls about how important it is for them to stay on task and not fall behind their peers that are in public school. Their eyes glazed over, and I decided it was time for a break for all of us.

I went to take a shower, which was hidden in the public bathroom by the front entrance to the gym. The gym was situated in the middle of 45 acres surrounded by lots of woods. It wasn't the church's main campus, so the girls and I were all alone on this campus every day. I let the hot water carry my stress away as I escaped mentally and emotionally from my reality. Then, my daughter came bursting into the bathroom. "Mom!!! There's a policeman here and he wants to talk to you!" I grabbed a robe and peered out of the bathroom, dripping wet, soap in my hair, and greeted the officer. "Can I help you?" "Uh, ma'am, I noticed the children riding bikes in the parking lot and the loose dogs running around and wanted to find out what is going on down here, since there is usually no one here during the day." Now I'm totally frazzled and embarrassed as I tried to explain to this officer that this dripping wet, soapy, naked under my robe, woman that stands before him is the new pastor's wife of one of the largest churches in town and we are living in a mouse infested gym with 10 dogs and home schooling our kids. I don't think I made a great first impression!! But he seemed content with my answer and left me to finish my shower.

By the time my husband came home, I was not in a great mood. I made our usual dinner, frozen microwave meals, gathered our laundry, including the mouse infested bedding, and headed to the laundry mat.

By the time I made it back the gym that night, the parking lot was full. "Basketball Season!" The city was borrowing our gym for practice 3-4 nights a week. I wrestled the baskets of laundry into our makeshift closet and tried to be cheerful as I greeted strangers that were watching their kids practice. And then I saw him ... The very police officer that had a few hours earlier had stood before me while I fumbled through my excuses of why we were here. As luck would have it, his son played basketball and they used our gym for practice. Could this day get any worse???

I made our bed hoping to not have any extra "guests" sleep under my pillow. My kids waited to take their nightly showers. The basketball players would be be practicing until 9pm. Waiting, waiting, waiting for this day to end...9:00..9:05...9:10... 9:15...still waiting. Finally they left at 9:20. I rushed my kids into the showers while my husband went to lock up the parking lot gate. I put my dogs in their pens, tucked my girls into bed, and crawled into my clean sheets. The best part of my day!!!!

"Yep ministry is hard, but I wouldn't be satisfied doing anything else," I thought, as I drifted to sleep.

 Christy Mead

The Call to Ministry

When I first surrendered to serve the Lord in ministry, I said to the Lord, "I will do anything you want, but I don't want to be a pastor." I was willing to go to the ends of the earth as a missionary, but I had no desire to pastor. Of course, I have learned since then that "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps" (Proverbs 16:9).

I was serving the Lord as a youth minister when God called me to be a pastor. The call upon my life came, not at one serendipitous moment, but over a long period of time. It started with my first opportunity to preach at a Wednesday night Bible Study. This opportunity was followed by several more opportunities to preach on Sunday mornings. Over a six month period, the Lord gave me an intense desire to pastor his people and preach his word. The apostle Paul said, "The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task" (1 Timothy 3:1). The desire I had to pastor could only be from God because I had no desire to be a pastor.

I have been serving the Lord for over twelve years as a senior pastor. I have to admit that if I had not been called by God, I would have quit a long time ago. I have to constantly recommit my life to God's call upon my life to be a shepherd of the people whom he purchased with his blood. Paul summarized what it means to be a pastor when he said to the Ephesian elders, "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God"(Acts 20:24). This verse reminds me that I have to commit my life to the priority of God's call.

The Priority of God's Call
A follower of Jesus Christ understands that the God's will is about self-denial and self-sacrifice. This is especially true for the minister of the gospel. God calls pastors to be examples for the flock. Paul said, "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself." Paul knew that following Christ and serving Christ would mean sacrificing his preferences to God's will. There is a great temptation to serve God only if it benefits my life. All pastors would love to be successful and comfortable, but God doesn't call us all to success and comfort. He calls us to surrender our lives to his will, knowing that God honors those who honor him. God's call must take priority over my family, my finances, my future, my fun, my life.

The Perseverance for God's Call
Paul's desire is stated, "if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus." God's call must take priority if you are going to finish the race. Many people get out of the ministry because they are not willing to make the sacrifice. They value their lives more than the call of God upon their lives. I will admit that I have had many times I wanted to give up in ministry. Every minister struggles with perseverance, and the only way to stay with the course is to surrender preference to the priority of God's call, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Purpose of God's Call
The purpose of God's call is a privilege. It is also the greatest motivation for surrendering to the priority of God's call. The purpose of God calling is real simple, "to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." What can be a greater privilege and purpose in the world than to preach the gospel of grace?. There is nothing more satisfying than knowing that God's call is the most important call in the whole universe. What really matters to humanity is to know and understand the Lord. The only way a person can know and understand the Lord is through grace of God revealed through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What a privilege to be able to testify of God's grace!

Dear Lord, today, I recommit my life to your call upon my life. I thank you that I can serve you and your people at First Southern Baptist Church. I am thankful that I have the wonderful privilege of sharing Jesus.

"Count the cost of following Christ; and if you cannot bear such a cost as this, turn your backs and perish in your sins!" Charles Spurgeon